Both these men had worked for Bruni’s Pizza of Bridgeton. John Suchanoff was the Manager of Bruni’s and “Reds” (as Reginald was known) used to hang out in the store as a young boy of 11. John eventually decided to put Reds to work since he was always there after school. Reds started out making boxes and cleaning up the kitchen area. When he was about 16, John decided to teach him to roll the dough
and make pizzas. Reds said “From the moment my hand first touched the dough I KNEW that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
When Reds was 19 he married his wife Alice. John decided that he and Reds would open up their own store. On April 30th, l969, Reds and John opened up at the South end of Laurel Street where the Bridgetowne restaurant currently is. The shop was called Big John’s Pizza since John was the one who put the money up to open. Reds and John became partners with the knowledge that he would be the key worker. It was a good partnership as Reds had lost his father at the early age of 9 and John was like a surrogate father to him. Big John’s Pizza was the first pizza shop in the area to offer a party tray size pizza. At that time there was not a box large enough for the party tray. You had to give a two hour notice to buy one and you had to pick it up with pot holders in hand and carry the actual tray home. You also paid a $2.00 deposit on the actual tray. The shop was open 7 days a week from 4:00 to midnight. A lot of foot traffic from the movie theatre next door was seen in the pizza shop. In l985, John retired and Reds, Phil and “Chic” became partners and formed Big John’s Pizza, Incorporated. We have experienced a yearly growth in our business from the start. We have the most loyal customers in the world. The secret to our business is two fold. The first and foremost reason we have been successful is because of two scriptures we live do our best to live by:
Joshua 24:15 Choose ye this day whom you will serve, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord also, and he shall give you the desire of your heart. The second reason we have been successful is we do our best to make our product the way our customer wants. Each pizza is made by hand from ingredients made fresh every single day.
